Moon S. Chen, Jr., professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center, has been tapped by President Bush to serve a six-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board. The influential board advises the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the director of the National Cancer Institute on national cancer policy, including decisions about cancer research funding. Currently only two Californians sit on the 30-member board. The White House announced Chen's imminent appointment in a July 24 news release.
One of the nation's foremost investigators into the cancer burden of ethnic minority groups, Chen joined UC Davis this month to head the UC Davis Cancer Center's Cancer Control and Prevention Program. Previously chair of health behavior and health promotion at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Chen is particularly well known for mobilizing national action to directly address cancer risk factors affecting Asian Americans.
Chen has served as the principal investigator for 13 major research projects devoted to Asian American health issues. Chief among them is the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training project, the leading national cancer initiative for Asian Americans. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, this five-year project combines the efforts of researchers at six major cancer centers nationwide. Chen also heads the Cancer Concerns for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders project, another major national cancer education program funded by the NCI.
In addition, Chen is founder of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Journal of Health, the only nationally distributed, peer-reviewed journal on Asian American health. He is also founder of several organizations dedicated to improving the health of Asian Americans, including:
Cancer Crises Affecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a Capitol Hill forum hosted by Congresswoman Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii. (Rep. Mink is chair of the Asian-Pacific Congressional Caucus.)
Asian Pacific Partners for Education and Leadership, the first national organization to focus on tobacco prevention and control among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The National Hepatitis B Task Force, Focus on Asians and Pacific Islanders, which seeks to increase vaccination of Asian American and Pacific Islander youth.
Even before his appointment to the National Cancer Advisory Board, Chen served in a variety of federal roles. He has been a consultant to the NCI through its Special Populations Working Group and a member of the National Dialogue on Cancer, chaired by former President George Bush and Sen. Dianne Feinstein. In addition, Chen served on an Institute of Medicine committee examining the National Institutes of Health's funding of cancer projects targeting minorities and the medically underserved.
Born in Shanghai, China, and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, Chen earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, an additional master's degree in public health from Tulane University and a doctorate, in health education, from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas